Mumbai mother charged with baby's murder

Police are yet to arrest Deepa Parmar, 26, as her other baby -- a boy -- is under treatment in the hospital and needs her.

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Headlines Today Bureau

Mumbai

October 27, 2010

UPDATED: October 27, 2010 21:06 IST

A woman caught on CCTV trying to kill her baby girl by flinging her off the window at Mumbai's KEM Hospital has been charged with murder but not arrested yet.

Police are yet to arrest Deepa Parmar, 26, as her other baby -- a boy -- is under treatment in the hospital and needs her.

"She (Deepa) has been charged for murder. But we have not arrested her on humanitarian grounds because her son is in the ICU and her presence is needed there," S. Baviskar, Deputy Police Commissioner, told agencies on Wednesday.

CCTV cameras had on Tuesday captured Deepa picking her 45-day-old baby -- bundled in a white cloth -- from the bed and walking into the bathroom of the peadiatric ward on the hospital's first floor. Moments later, she was seen returning to her bed without the baby.

Deepa then raised an alarm that her baby had gone missing, sending KEM staff into a hunt. It is alleged that she flung the baby down from the bathroom window.

The girl landed on a discarded mattress lying in a pool of sewage water, where a rodent attacked her.

Deepika, who suffered two miscarriages in the past, had delivered the girl and the boy in September. The premature twins were on life-support.

According to sources, Deepa told the police she tried to kill the girl as she couldn't bear to see her in pain from the treatment underway.

But there could be other reasons as well. The police are investigating is Deepika had postpartum depression, was in poor financial condition or was facing pressure from her family to kill the girl child.

Dr Abha Majumdar, gynaecologist at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said: "One cannot imagine how grave postpartum depression can be. It is a condition that's largely ignored in India. If recognised early, it can help avoid cases where mothers harm themselves or their babies."